More on Pood Agility and Being a Poodle among Border Collies!

So, in early March, as the Pood and I ramped up her training in preparation for the last weekend of the month, in which she was to make her move for the big title, as we trained, and drilled, and practiced...I ran out of poodle.

This has happened before, when she has gotten too tired, or bored, and wished to be indulged, and spoiled, and not pushed so danged hard, and she looks at me as if to say, well, no, I don't think I do want to jump that; you go ahead if you like, but I am taking a break....what do you think I am, a Border Collie?!?!?!!

But this time, she actually seemed depressed. I thought maybe she had hurt herself somehow, although she was not lame, or acting sore (although she DID appreciate her massages more than usual...)

So I spoke to my pal Maia. Maia is a Life Coach and Animal Intuitive. She checked in with Carbon and conveyed to me three observations.

First -- Carbon knows how to do this stuff, and she does not want to be drilled. She just wants to go in the ring, do her thing, get her treats, and then play. And then rest.

Second -- she finds it confusing and not fun to be working at both Agility and Obedience at the same time. (I had been working on both for a month or so. ) She likes whatever we do together, but she wants to do one thing at a time.

Third -- her two buddies in camp are an Australian cattle dog and an Australian Shepherd. She, however, is a poodle. She finds that she cannot play and run on the beach all day and then find the energy and motivation to do agility also. At least not without a massage, some champagne, and a few bites of Miss Cindy's quiche. So, basically, she wants to play, for 15-20 minutes, but then she wants to rest and be catered to.

So, (this conversation was on a Monday afternoon) I gave her the whole week off, with just a few mellow short walks on leash, and a brief agility practice over 12" jumps on Friday night, with rests in the car in between runs.

We left for the trial early Saturday, and had two runs Saturday -- PI Standard and PII Jumpers. She qualified in both!!! Hooray!!! Once again, I had enough poodle. The first photo in this post shows her impersonating a shark.

Sunday she had two runs also, and she qualified in both PI Standard, and, finally, in PI Gamblers!! That class was the last Q she needed, and so she earned her PI title. Karen and Mary were there cheering us on, and Mike was there too, taking pictures, and providing moral support!!

We were all so pleased with Team Pood.

Carbon was so pleased her ears puffed up.